Previous Links: Prelude | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4
Thus Far: Zeph and Aragon have started a riot in the mines. Jaros has switched sides, having been hired by Aragon. They have saved Elene and Tahjarra.
Elene and Tahjarra are kind of confused since Jaros has switched sides and they do not know who Aragon is. But they have no choice but to follow. On their way out of the mines Zeph wants to collapse the tunnel so they aren't followed but he gives too much choice to Aragon.
Instead of collapsing the tunnel Aragon purposely releases a few nameless ones. The nameless ones are basically slaughtering everyone, including the Ryotian guard, so they retreat. The nameless ones can only be killed with fire or magic, so slicing them is not working. This does work though and Zeph and the others take off through a tunnel.
Elene and Tahjarra try to make a stand but they have no footing to stand on. Aragon points out he could care less about them and their only choice is to stay and die or follow.
Aragon designed and built a lot of the tunnels and devices around the mines. This gives him a big advantage. He even has hidden tunnels. He stopped cooperating with the empress when she wanted him to build a big weapon.
The empress gets the report but is confident they are not trying to escape. So she orders them to find Aragon and Zeph. And to look for the hidden tunnels.
Aragon reveals his big plan. Time travel. They need a magical artifact that the Datarans used to control Shim'tar, the fire dragon. It was buried under the mountain along with the body of the ice dragon causing the winter. Zeph has tried to unearth the two but it would take way too long even for him. The theory is this magical rock can destroy the ice dragon's body and return the seasons to normal. Zeph is not super convinced by the idea in the first place but is totally against the time travel idea. Saying it would either kill them or destroy the entire universe.
Again. They really have no choice though. So Zeph tells Elene and Tahjarra to get in the circle. The immediate danger is as soon as the spell is cast it will release a huge amount of demons because of the amount of power they will need.
Tahjarra panics and attacks. There is a panel that I honestly can't tell if it is her getting killed or not.
But the rest remain in the circle as what appears to be the demon lord emerges.
One of the biggest unexplained parts of the first Warlands is what happened to the demons? They were battling the vampires for a while, then the eastern kingdoms engaged. The demons pulled back with the strategy of, let them kill each other and we'll slaughter the remaining forces. But nothing ever happened. So it is kind of interesting to see the demons appear at the end of this issue! Maybe that is Asteroth and we will finally learn what happened to them?
Lots of other questions here as well. Are Zeph and the others back in time now? Is Tahjarra dead? Still cannot really trust Aragon or Jaros. Are they really going to help save the world? Guess we'll have to see what happens next tomorrow!
To Be Continued!